More information : [TQ 43998383]St. Mary's Abbey [G.T.] (Remains of) (1)
Barking Abbey was a house of Benedictine Nuns dedicated to St. Mary and St. Ethelburga. It was founded by Erkenwald, later Bishop of London, for his sister Ethelburga, the first abbess.(a)(b) The date of foundation is given in the register of Chertsey, (c) as A.D. 666: if this is not actually correct, it is probably not more than a few years out. It appears from the words used by Bede that this was a double monastery for men as well as women. About 870 the whole congregation of virgins were burnt by the Danes and the abbey seems to have been deserted for a century until Edgar granted it to Wulfhildis [usually Wulfhilda] and restored to its old estate. This was one of the greatest nunneries of England, the Abbess having precedence over the other abbesses. At the Taxation of 1291 its temporalities were worth £300. About 1377 it met with great misfortune, from which it seems never to have completely recovered, in the devastation by floods of a large part of its possession along the Thames. By 1382 its income was diminished to 400 marks. The abbey was surrendered in 1539 and pensions granted to the abbess and 30 nuns. In 1551 it was granted to Edward, Lord Clinton. (2)
Full report of the excavations carried out in 1911 by A.W. Clapham & C.F. Dawson. The present ruins date from a 12th cent. rebuilding of the abbey. The accounts, (d) are preserved of the pulling down of its buildings in 1541. In 1724 S. Lethieullier carried out some excavations on the site of the abbey church and his hopelessly inaccurate plan was published by Lysons(e.)
The Abbey church. The excavations showed that the abbey church consisted of a nave 165.5 feet long with north and south aisles and towers at the NW and SW angles, a central tower, and an aisled presbytery terminating, i all probability, in three graduated apses. Circa 1200 thee ast end of the presbytery was pulled down and a Saint's Chapel erected, presumably to provide a more honourable position for the shrines of st Ethelburga and her successors, St Hildelitha and St Wulfhilda. A Lady Chapel awas erected at the same time, behind the Saint's Chapel.
The Abbey church has been destroyed except for the Lady Chapel, the south side of the Saint's Chapel, the south presbytery aisle, south transept and chapel, south aisle of the nave and the SW tower. None of the walls are standing to more than 6 feet high. The remainder of the reconstructed plan has been laid out on the ground in modern rag-stone.
The cloister lay upon the north side of the nave. It was 99 feet square but, owing to the demolition of the walls and benches in 1941, no trace even of the foundations has survived.
The chapter house was rectangular, 66' 6" x 23' 6", projecting from about the centre of the east walk of the cloister. In the excavations of 1911 a considerable length of the north wall was uncovered, together with about half of the east end. There was a small compartment between the chapter house and the north transept, and was probably passage to the nun's cemetery.
Adjoining the chapter house to the north was a building 53' long and 24' wide, divided into two unequal parts by the passage leading to the infirmary. In the smaller south part a small early 16th century has been inserted in the east wall.
The warming house formed the north part. The eastern wall was found standing to about 1' above the floor level for almost all of its length. Unlike the rest of the building it was of 13th century date and its slight thickness is rather indicative that the structure was single storeyed.
The frater formed the north range but its demolition has been so complete that it is impossible to say whether it was on the ground floor or first floor. A portion of the east end of the north wall was found standing a foot or so above the floor level. No trace of the kitchen was found. Traces of a building of unknown function were found to the NE of the frater, approached by a passage between the frater and the warming house.
The dorter occupied the first floor of a long building 166' x 24' on the western side of the cloister, an unusual position. Excavations showed that the southern end of the building had been destroyed, but, further north, the base of the west wall was traced to the end of the building and the north wall located.
There is little doubt that the dorter undercroft was vaulted with a central row of columns but no trace of these was found: the 12th century piers and capitals in the north aisle of the parish church came from the abbey, probably from here.
The rere-dorter, a building of massive construction, 68' x 26' externally, was a short distance west of the of the dorter, with which it communicated by a passage or bridge. The SE and NW angles remained standing to some height. It was served by a great culvert or sewer, fed from the River Roding by a cutting, the line of which is preserved by a narrow watercourse branching off from the river north of the abbey precinct. The sewer split into two channels beneath the rere-dorter, reunited outside it and was traced for circa 200' to the SW.
The infirmary lay NE of the chapter house. Its great hall was aligned N-S and was 38' wide, but its length could not be ascertained as it runs under the adjacent school playground. A long stretch of the west wall was uncovered terminating in a massive square pier adjoining the angle-buttress of the chapter house. This probably represented the southern termination of the hall, but in the 15th century it appears to have been shortened by a few feet, and traces of this later end were found. The infirmary chapel was a 15th century building 45' long and 19' wide and aligned E-W.
Fragment of a small hall circa 48' long, probably the misericord, were found between the north end of the warming house and the infirmary hall.
Traces of a building, probably one of the guest houses, were uncovered due west of the SW tower of the abey church. They were of early 16th century date and built of brick, with two garderobes placed above the great culvert leading from the rere-dorter.
The limits of the precinct wall cannot be fixed precisely but the general lines are not difficult to ascertain. There is no record of the position of the precinct wall on the south, where the Great Gate stood, but on the east it bounded the parish churchyard, which was within the precinct and entered by the Fire-bell Gate. Traces of the wall are visible to north of that gate. From near the destroyed north-east gate, a stone wall ran westwards towards the river and probably bounded the precinct on the north side. The River Roding undoubtedly formed the boundary on the west, so there would have been no wall there.
The Great Gate to the abbey precinct, where a porter was always in attendance, is documented in 1450. It probably stood in the neighbourhood of the present Heath Steer or the Wharf, but no trace or record of its position is known.
The Fire-bell Gate (also known as the Curfew Tower or Cemetery Gate) forms the entrance to the parish churchyard. It is two-storeyed with an embattled parapet, diagonal buttresses and an octagonal stair turret at the NW angle. It was built in the 15th century and has four-centred inner and outer archways. The upper floor formed the chapel of the Holy Rood and has in the east and west walls a window of three cinquefoiled lights in a four-centred head. Similar windows in the N and s walls have been bricked up. A late 12th/early 13th century stone rood has been reset in the chapel.
The Fire-bell Gate was probably built in the time of Abbess Felton (1349-1419), and subsequently reconstructed circa 1460. It is first mentioned in a Papal Indult of 1400 as the 'Oratory called Rodlofte, situate on the walls of the cemetery...'
The North-East Gate stood about 350' north of the Fire-bell Gate, and was demolished circa 1885. At that time it consisted of a single archway with a four-centred head very similar to that in the Fire-bell Gate. Judging from a drawing made by S Lethieullier of circa 1724 it was almost a replica of the Fire-bell gate, being two-storeyed, embattled, and square on plan.
The rental of Barking of 1456 mentions the Warden of the Chapel of St Nicholas within the Abbey. A later rental mentions 'a tenement... lying in Northstrete next St Nicholas Helme...' his chapel is not known otherwise. The survey of Barking of 1609 mentions the Chapel of St Nicholas on the west side of North Street. This shows that it survived the Dissolution. (3)
The ruins of Barking Abbey consist of little more than the general lay-out at the main building, the 'Fire-Bell' Gate and part of the precinct wall. the remains are of rag-stone rubble with dressings of Reigate, Binstead and Caen stone. Plan A.O./59/54/6 (4)
Full historical account. [Area centred TQ 43908350]
The site of the first abbey was not that occupied by the present ruins. Bede states that it was built in a narrow place and was liable to floods. The probable site is the peninsula south of the mill, between the River Roding and its western tributary, the Back River.
The abbey fishponds are believed to have been on the NW side of the Abbey, fed by the river. They are apparently indicated by Lethieullier's drawing of circa 1724.
The Abbey mill stood behind the Granary wharf where the present mill stands.
(5)
Important additional references. (6-10)
Remains of Barking Abbey and old churchyard walls. C12 and later. Remains of general layout of main building. Outer walls of abbey church survive in places to a height of several feet. [Full architectural description]. Listed. For the designation record of this site please see The National Heritage List for England. (11)
Fire Bell Gate, Barking Abbey. Late C15-early C16. Two storey gateway. Course rubble and stone dressings. [Full architectural description] Listed. For the designation record of this site please see The National Heritage List for England. (11)
The medieval ruins of Barking Abbey are situated at TQ 440839 in a rectangular area of urban parkland bounded by North Street, Abbey Road and London Road. The ruins comprise a gatehouse on the east side of the precinct and the stone foundations of the abbey church. The parish church of St Margaret [TQ 48 SW 3] and its graveyard occupy the area immediately south of the monastic ruins. There are no surviving earthworks, but buried remains probably exist.
The Saxon abbey may have been located south-west of the surviving ruins. The site suggested by Loftus and Chettle (5)(TQ 440833) is now occupied by an industrial estate. (12)
TQ 440839. Remains of St Mary's Abbey, Barking.
Excavated site marked by stone lines in grass. C12 Abbey church c. 100m long, the chancel and chancel aisles ending in apsidal ends. A tower stood at the crossing with the transepts which each had chapels on their east side. The nave was of 10 bays with aisles, ending with two west towers. In the C13 a chapel to St Ethelburga and a Lady Chapel were added at the east end.
The Cloister and monastic buildings lay north of the nave with the chapter house on the east. To the west lay the Dormitory and reredorter, the refectory lying north of the cloister. North of the chancel, beyond the Chapter house was the infirmary and a chapel. Only one building survives, the East or Firebell Gate, a gate tower with upper chapel. (13)
The Medieval precinct was bounded on the west by the River Roding, the east wall was on the Back Lane and North Street, the line of the north side is uncertain but it lay north of the London Road. The south wall was on the line of the present churchyard's south wall. The parish church lay within the precinct. Apart from the Firebell Gate there was a Great Gate on the south west near the town-wharf.
There were chantries at the tomb of St Ethelburga, at the Altar of the Resurrection in the Abbey Church and in the graveyard there was one of St Edward. T. Sampkyn's chapel was in the Abbey and may be identical to one of the above.
The chapel of the Holy Rood in the Firebell Gate was in existence by 1400.
The Parish church contains stonework including a Saxon cross-shaft and Medieval tomb decorations and inscriptions. Previous to Clapham's excavations, Joshua King in 1874 dug the Lady Chapel but by that date much of the church site had been destroyed by gravel digging, leaving only the south and east walls and parts of the conventual buildings. The 1911 excavations were prompted by the construction of Abbey Road. (14-16)
At the Dissolution stone from the site was ferried across the Thames to Dartford, Kent for the construction of a royal palace. (17)
Discussion concerning the relationship with the monastery at Chertsey and the Abbey's organisation in comparison with other double minsters. (18-19)
General description of Abbey and fabric of church which includes Roman tile and stone fixtures derived from Abbey. (20)
Summary History of the Abbey and reference to finds. Keystone inscription to Duke of Exeter, gold ring possibly belonging to an Abbess and a Medieval inscribed buckle (illust.) described. Burials of Abbesses excavated by Mr King. References to water-supply from Cranbrook and later Newberry to Abbey. (21)
In mid C18th gatehouse and wall only surviving structures; account of endowments and estates. (22)
A fragment of a late 7th or 8th century impost was found during excavations in 1985. (23)
National Heritage List for England (24-25)
Scheduled. For the designation record of this site please see The National Heritage List for England. (26-27) |